Randy Bullard won the job to build Hightower’s first centralized investment platform but winning RIAs may be bigger challenge

Hightower Advisors poached its new CEO from Goldman Sachs Asset Management's RIA to better execute the monetization of its $324-billion book of business, and now Randy Bullard has arrived to make it happen – and gain efficiencies in the bargain.

The Chicago RIA rollup – fresh off replacing Bob Oros with Larry Restieri at CEO – hired Bullard, the former global head of wealth at State Street, as its first head of investment management. See: Bob Oros is out at Hightower -- for real this time -- with poached Ayco CEO, a Goldman Sachs partner, replacing him

In the newly created role, Bullard will lead the development of Hightower’s first centralized investment management platform. 

“Hightower, since inception, has been a firm where top producing advisors can come and perform their craft, their way,” Bullard says by email. “ Not dissimilar to the other large RIA acquirers.”

Yet, once Restieri took the reins in June, it was apparent to observers that Hightower was ready to shift to the classic Goldman Sachs strategy – deriving fatter margins, hopefully better returns for clients and efficiencies for advisors.

“Seems like with Larry's experience, Hightower may want to monetize the business differently and introduce recurring product revenue to bolster advisory fee revenue,” said Wade Spencer, in a February 2025 RIA interview. Spencer is leader of wealth management practice at West Monroe in Chicago, and former Oros colleague at Schwab,

Multiple benefits

Until now, Hightower's advisor practices in 34 states and the District of Columbia were each-to-his own under a classically decentralized, open architecture RIA scheme. 

Some of the RIAs are “hybrid” and sell investments by commission, and about half of Hightower assets are counted as assets under administration or AUA.

Bullard can bring to decentralized advisor practices a Wall Street and RIA perspective by creating a centralized platform, said Restieri in a release.

“Randy is uniquely positioned to develop and drive this key initiative as he’s spent his career building next-generation platforms for the world’s largest wealth management organizations, from major wirehouses to custodians,” he explained.

Bullard says the centralized platform confers multiple benefits.

“I think it's indicative of a broader industry shift towards professionalizing how they do that, creating some shared efficiencies, a more consistent client experience, in some sense a Hightower way,' he says by email. "It's part of a larger strategic shift under the new CEO.”

Spencer agreed in an RIABiz interview today.

“RIAs that don’t offer centralized portfolio management can’t scale - and some firms are able to monetize portfolio management by creating products,” he says.

“There are the next-level implications – pricing power, fee compression, lifetime value of client, etc. This is where smart operators (like PE firms and sophisticated execs) are increasingly focused.”

Modern platform

One big difference of the Hightower utility from wirehouse ones is that it will need to get chosen by advisors.

“It can't/won't be forced on advisors," Bullard says. 

”My objective is to create a modern wealth management platform that has the compelling features, products, solution architectures, and improved client experience and outcomes, such that advisors choose to adopt it as a way to improve their own practices and focus their resources on client service and growth rather than directly managing client portfolios."  

He adds: “I've had many of the large RIAs as customers at [State Street-owned] Charles River Development in the last six years, all going through similar journeys as they mature.”

‘Old school’ roll-up retrofit

Hightower had already been putting pieces of the investments puzzle in place. 

Besides Restieri, it hired Chief Investment Strategist Stephanie Link and acquired a majority ownership position earlier this year in NEPC, one of the industry’s leading consulting firms and an OCIO or outsourced chief investment officer.

But Bullard is just what the doctor ordered and will be the key to retrofitting an old-school rollup in a private venture backed by Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (THL). See: As Thomas H. Lee Partners asserts itself, Dave Pottruck steps down as chairman of Hightower's board of directors . T

“When I left Charles River I didn't have a specific role lined up and wasn't really in a rush to jump into something,” Bullard says.

"But the timing was right at Hightower and THL, [who] knew me well.  For me personally, moving from being a ‘provider’ that partners with dozens/hundreds of wealth managers to focusing 100% of that capacity on building out the platform for Hightower and driving adoption within the firm is a fun and welcome opportunity.  

“A big objective for me exiting State Street was to get out of a public company and back into a private, entrepreneurial environment.  Hightower fits the bill on every dimension.  Very exciting opportunity for me.”

Awaiting clarification

Hightower was founded in 2008 by Elliot Weissbluth, with ex-Schwab Chairman David S. Pottruck as an investor and chairman.

Hightower had $158 billion in assets under management on a discretionary basis and $6.9 billion in assets under management on a non-discretionary basis, according to its SEC ADV, dated on Dec. 31, 2024.

Yet it lists the $324 billion of AUM as the top-line amount in its Bullard press release. A spokesman emailed that the larger number encompasses “affiliates” of which NEPC is counted. NEPC's ADV alone, as of April 30, shows $137 billion of AUM